East-Central MN NWI Update

Ducks Unlimited (DU) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource’s Resource Assessment Division (RA) have partnered to perform the NWI update for the east-central project area. DU has primary responsibility for developing the final updated NWI and RA has primary responsibility for the LiDAR and DEM processing as well as assisting with the field data collection.

Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The Trust Fund is a permanent fund constitutionally established by the citizens of Minnesota to assist in the protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state’s air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources. Currently 40% of net Minnesota State Lottery proceeds are dedicated to building the Trust Fund and ensuring future benefits for Minnesota’s environment and natural resources.

Additional funding was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Update Status

Updates are performed on a quarter-quad basis. You may review the status of individual quarter-quads using the map viewer. Please click on the image below to access the map viewer.

Project Overview

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has taken the lead in coordinating a multi-agency effort to update and enhance the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) for Minnesota. Wetland inventories are an essential tool for effective wetland management, protection, and restoration. Such inventories provide baseline information for assessing the effectiveness of wetland policies and management actions. These data are used at all levels of government, as well as by private industry and non-profit organizations for wetland regulation and management, land use and conservation planning, environmental impact assessment, and natural resource inventories. The NWI is the only spatially comprehensive wetland inventory for Minnesota. Yet, there are issues with the original NWI data for Minnesota. First and foremost, the data are about 25 to 30 years out of date. Second, various limitations in the original technology, methodology, and source data resulted in an under representation of very small wetlands, drier-end wetlands, and forested wetlands.

Project Area

The project area consists of 13 counties in east-central Minnesota including: Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright Counties. This area is 6,328 square miles, but the updated wetland inventory will include complete coverage for all USGS quarter quadrangles that intersect any of these counties (about 7,150 square mile).

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